Nightspot controversy enough to anger Buddha

ALBANY — Right on the heels of my recent story about the opening of a new downtown nightclub this week comes lots of confusion over the whole topic.

What has been promoted on Facebook and elsewhere as Buddha & Club Zen at 69 North Pearl Street apparently has been unauthorized, if not downright misleading.

Steve Barnes’ Times Union blog today reports that the project actually will be called Buddha Tea House, and will feature a menu of sushi and other light fare.

He cited owner Fred Sharifipour as saying it will offer sushi-buffet lunches during the week, late-night dinners with a DJ and a nightclub on weekends, and, beginning September 27, will serve dinner Wednesday through Saturday.

The confusion over the name and nature of the new enterprise came because of information being disseminated by Mark DiGiuseppe who has been saying the business will be open only two nights a week as Buddha Nightclub with a new basement room called Club Zen.

As it turns out, Barnes says Sharifipour “characterized DiGiuseppe and the other two promoters whose names and telephone numbers are listed on the Facebook pages for Buddha and Club Zen — Chris McCauley and Stan Greer — as rogue opportunists who put up the Facebook pages without his permission to try to insinuate themselves into Buddha’s business.”